Investigations started on CenturyLink outage, 911 failures

Federal officials and at least one state say they’ve started an investigation into a nationwide CenturyLink internet outage that has caused 911 service disruptions.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai made the announcement Friday, saying the outage that started Thursday is “completely unacceptable” because people who need help couldn’t use the 911 emergency number.

CenturyLink spokeswoman Debra Peterson said the outage is not related to hacking, She declined further comment.

The company says it’s working to restore service and appears to be making progress.

Authorities in Washington state also announced they’ll open an investigation.

Idaho Emergency Office Management Director Brad Richy says he didn’t receive any reports of 911 service failures, but some state offices lost phone service.